Me in the Middle of Hope

I live just outside of the City of Charlottesville in Albemarle County.

As I watched last weekend begin to unfold on last Friday night with the intimidating appearance of torches and hate-filled messages on the Lawn of the University of Virginia I knew things were going to progress in ugliness. I also knew that Charlottesville Va, a friendly and welcoming place for all people of good will, was destined to be a pivotal part of history. Before I got off the internet and spent the weekend with family I read this post by one of the WordPress Bloggers I follow. It was obvious to me that this ‘millenial’s’ post was going to go viral ………………… and it did! 10,000 plus shares on Facebook!

These are people who are in my generation, the millennial generation, the one frequently lambasted for “participation trophies” and “needing safe spaces.”

These are people that look like my coworkers, my colleagues, my brothers, my cousins. People I know and love, who also have white skin and wear polo shirts.

These are people who, like I was, were raised on a diet of Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, which teaches tolerance and understanding of others. They’ve probably seen the Indiana Jones films, where punching Nazis is considered a virtuous act. These are my actual demographic peers in the United States of America, which means that these are people who sat through the unit on the second world war in their history class and looked at images of concentration camps and gas chambers and burning books and Anne Frank’s attic and still thought, well, hang on, maybe those Nazis had some interesting ideas.

These are people who chanted “Jew will not replace us.”

These are people who yelled “The heat here is nothing compared to what you’re going to get in the ovens.”

These are people who didn’t even bother to wear hoods.

What does it say that in 2017, I’m struck by the fact that the Ku Klux Klan members at least shielded their faces so that no one could identify them? That the same type of societal pressure apparently no longer exists today? That these people feel comfortable espousing the rhetoric of racist, genocidal maniacs in a public space that was widely photographed and broadcast?

My anger is bigger than my ability to write, but I’m going to try to say this as succinctly as I can.

White nationalism is morally indefensible. This is not a point that is up for discussion.

If you are willing to give these people the benefit of the doubt, you are complicit in the rhetoric of racists and bigots. Playing “devil’s advocate” is unacceptable.

I believe the unexpected appearance of this group on Friday night set the entire tone for the weekend. There were ‘good intentions’ for allowing free speech yet the fears were there all along that peaceful was impossible. I’m proud of the people who reclaimed our spirit of community both in the city and in our country. ❤